02/23/2020
OHS Announces Healthcare Cost Growth Benchmark Technical Team and Stakeholder Board
OFFICE OF HEALTH STRATEGY ANNOUNCES HEALTHCARE COST GROWTH BENCHMARK TECHNICAL TEAM AND STAKEHOLDER BOARD
(HARTFORD, CT) – Today, the Office of Health Strategy (OHS) announced the members of the Cost Growth Benchmark Technical Team and the Cost Growth Benchmark Stakeholder Advisory Board, two groups formed to establish Connecticut’s first healthcare cost growth bench as outlined by Governor Ned Lamont’s Executive Order No. 5. The order directs OHS to establish statewide healthcare cost growth and quality benchmarks and a primary care spending target.
The OHS Cost Growth Benchmark Technical Team includes experts who will directly engage with OHS and consulting experts on the creation of the annual healthcare cost growth benchmarks and primary care spending targets. It will get input from the Cost Growth Benchmark Stakeholder Advisory Board. The Advisory Board will ensure that additional stakeholders from across the healthcare landscape, from consumers to providers, employers and the healthcare industry have input and feedback into the discussion. Both groups will convene in the next month to begin discussion on their charters and governing bylaws.
OHS Executive Director Vicki Veltri said, “The healthcare cost growth benchmark and the setting of primary care targets are important to improving the affordability of healthcare. In Massachusetts, establishing a healthcare benchmark saved consumers and the state about $5.5 billion in its rate of growth of expenditures over five years—this is policy that works. The groups we’ve convened are a strong balance of technical expertise and consumer/stakeholder engagement and I thank the members for volunteering their time and talent to this work.”
Cost Growth Benchmark Technical Team
Melissa McCaw, MPA, Secretary, State of Connecticut Office of Policy and Management
Deidre Gifford, MD, MPH, Commissioner, Department of Social Services
Paul Lombardo, A.S.A., M.A.A.A., Director, Life & Health Division, Connecticut Insurance Department
Rae-Ellen Roy, Assistant Director of Health Policy and Benefits Division, Office of the State Comptroller
Rebecca Andrews, M.D., FACP, American College of Physicians Connecticut Chapter Governor
Patricia Baker, President and CEO, CT Health Foundation
Zack Cooper, PhD, MSc, Associate Professor of Public Health and Economics, Yale University
Paul Grady, Connecticut Business Group on Health
Angela Harris, Chair of Phillips Health Ministry, Phillips Metropolitan CME Church
Luis Pérez, LCSW, President and CEO, Mental Health Connecticut, Inc.
Cost Growth Benchmark Stakeholder Advisory Board
Reginald Eadie M.D., M.B.A., President, Chief Executive Officer, Trinity Health of New England
Kathleen Silard, R.N., President and CEO, Stamford Health
Janice Henry, Executive Director, Provider Solutions, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of CT
Robert Kosior, Senior Vice President and COO, ConnectiCare
Richard Searles, Managing Director, Merritt Healthcare Solutions
Ken Lalime, CEO, Community Health Center Association of Connecticut
Margaret Flinter, PhD, APRN, Senior Vice President and Clinical Director, Community Health Center, Inc.
Karen Gee, Senior Vice President and COO, OptumCare Network of Connecticut
Marie Smith, PharmD, FNAP, UConn School of Pharmacy
Tekisha Everette, PhD., Executive Director, Health Equity Solutions
Pareesa Charmchi Goodwin, Executive Director, Connecticut Oral Health Initiative
Howard Forman, MD, MBA, FACR, Professor of Diagnostic Radiology, Public Health, Management, and Economics, Yale University
Nancy Yedlin, MPH, Vice President, Donaghue Foundation
Fiona Mohring, MPH, SPHR, Director, Health & Group Benefits, Stanley Black & Decker
Lori Pasqualini, Chief Financial & Administrative Officer, Ability Beyond
Sal Luciano, President, Connecticut AFL-CIO
Kathy Flaherty, JD, Executive Director, Connecticut Legal Rights Project
Hector Glynn, MSW, COO, The Village for Families and Children
Rick Melita, Director, Service Employees International Union Connecticut State Council
Governor Lamont’s Executive Order No. 5 directs OHS to:
- Develop annual healthcare cost growth benchmarks by December 2020 for calendar years 2021-2025;
- Set targets for increased primary care spending as a percentage of total healthcare spending to reach 10 percent by 2025;
- Develop quality benchmarks across all public and private payers beginning in 2022, including clinical quality measures, over/under utilization measures, and patient safety measures;
- Monitor and report annually on healthcare spending growth across public and private payers;
- Monitor accountable care organizations and the adoption of alternative payment models.
OHS is the state agency responsible under state statutes for developing and implementing a comprehensive and cohesive healthcare vision for the state, including a statewide cost containment strategy.
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OHS interim press contact: Laurence Grotheer (860-418-7010)